A Tale of a Winterguard
by LittleLily
Summary: The WHS winterguard gets the shock of the season as the members mysteriously get changed into markers...
1. Jacque

1 "A Tale of a Winterguard" written by LittleLily and brainstormed by Mitsubishi Eclipse and LittleLily  
  
  
  
The beginning of the Washington High School winterguard seemed to be starting out rough for the members of the guard who knew what they were doing. Lindsay, Michaele, Marie, Becca, and Levi (no, he's not gay… though we all thought he was) all knew what they were doing, but the newbies did not. Especially one girl named Jacque. But she made it anyways because the guard needed all the members they could get. Another problem was… there was no instructor. Just the band director who was learning basics herself. It did not seem like it was going to be a good season…  
  
Then like magic, Katie, the awesome guard instructor arrived! Everything seemed to be going well, especially when the best rifleist the guard has had within the past two years came back. Soon the tally was up to eleven guard members and there were people in skills with flag and rifle. It was going to be a good year. Or so Michaele and Lindsay thought.  
  
"I wish Jacque would shut-up…" Lindsay said as the guard all sat on the floor doing their foot stretches.  
  
"Psst, don't we all." Michaele replied as she tried with all her might to touch her toes. She finally gave up with a defeated sigh. Looking over at Lindsay, she exclaimed, "No fair Lindsay! I wish I was all rubber-band like you!"  
  
Lindsay giggled.  
  
"Okay, now lets lie on the floor and you guys can try to crack your backs." Katie announced from the front of the room.  
  
Jacque and Megan began to giggle.  
  
"SHUT-UP." Michaele snapped.  
  
Jacque giggled again and began to squirm about the floor like a worm.  
  
"Okay Lavender Brown, we're not a Hogwarts hanging out with Pravati and Harry Potter is not around the corner, so shut-up!!!" She whispered.  
  
Lindsay looked at Michaele.  
  
"Sorry."  
  
She shrugged at her impatient friend and lied on the floor to crack her back. As she stared at the high ceiling with dents from flag poles that were tempted to be tossed by orchestra people, Lindsay spoke.  
  
"Wouldn't it be funny if something came in here… and then someone was replaced by something like… a marker?"  
  
Michaele laughed. "I would love to see something like that." Stretching out on the floor, she lied still as everyone else in the guard got up. "It'd be funny if something like… an owl flew in here and someone did get replaced by a marker."  
  
Lindsay laughed. "That'd be funny."  
  
After finally getting up, they went to their respected flag bags and pulled out their tattered silks and began to spin them around.  
  
"Okay, today I want to try and finish our sets. By the time we finish, we'll be able to be in the gym next time and we can finally fix it to the gym floor." Katie announced.  
  
Lindsay walked to her set on the other side of the band room with her flag. Jackie bounced around and Megan slowly made her way over there. Michaele set as Stephanie and Helanna set with her. They whispered a little bit ("Jacque needs to shut-up!" Stephanie said) until Katie yelled "SET!" and everyone went to their "sleep" position as the music started.  
  
As soon as the music started, Chris jumped off his imaginary box and went to push Caitlin to the center of the floor to play her imaginary saxophone. After her part, she dropped her head and went to her "sleep" position. Chris came over to Michaele's side and blew imaginary confetti on them as they began to wake up and move to the middle. Slowly getting to their spot, they waited for the other side to join them. As they did, Jacque began to move around and look and when she got to her spot, she began to move about and move her flag and giggle. Katie did not look impressed.  
  
The "footsteps" started and the groups of three spread apart and when Jacque got to the next set, she began to waddle and giggle again. Everyone else was being serious with their "performance faces", but Jacque was still acting like a hyper-active duck. Katie still did not look impressed.  
  
Michaele and Lindsay caught eye contact and rolled their eyes. Lindsay mouthed 'owl' and Michaele tried to control her snicker as she moved to the middle of the room. At the dance part, Jacque began to move around and talk to Megan. Michaele became aggravated. Katie STILL was not impressed.  
  
A sudden, sharp knock came at the door.  
  
"I got it." Levi said as he merrily skipped to the door and pushed it open and stuck his head out. Apparently, no one was there. Opening the door wider to look outside, he still did not see anyone. Shrugging, he came back inside.  
  
A gasp came from the guard. Lindsay and Michaele's jaw dropped with what they saw. It was a white-spotted owl… flying through the Washington High School band room. In Phoenix, none-the-less.  
  
"Hedwig!" Jacque squealed like a two year old.  
  
"I knew she'd say that…" Michaele muttered. Marie looked back at Michaele and laughed.  
  
Katie shrilled. "Get it out of here!"  
  
Jumping towards the door in a less merrily way, Levi opened the door. The owl looked at it and saw the open sky out of the small room. He circled the room, swooped down towards Jacque, barely missed her head, and flew out of the room. Everyone looked at Katie.  
  
"What was that?"  
  
A loud scream came from Jacque. "OWW! I'm burning!" She began to do a funny dance.  
  
"Is she doing the Macarena?!" Caitlin laughed.  
  
"OH MY GOD!" Levi shrilled.  
  
Megan watched her friend with amusement. Lindsay and Michaele's mouth dropped wider. Marie watched with shock. Katie screamed. Chris laughed. Becca rolled her eyes. Helanna gave a weird look. Stephanie started laughing herself.  
  
"I CAN'T STOP!" Jacque began to sing the words to the song. She began to giggle and then waddle and then smoke appeared.  
  
When the smoke disappeared, a black licorice Mr. Sketch marker lied where Jacque was standing. Megan screamed.  
  
"JACQUE!?!?!"  
  
Katie looked dumbfound. "Uhh… what was that?"  
  
Michaele and Lindsay started to laugh.  
  
"Do you guys know?"  
  
"Nope." They answered.  
  
"Okay…" Katie walked over to the marker. "Um, I guess we'll have to work around Jacque being…"  
  
"Transfigured." Michaele stated.  
  
"Um, transfigured into a Mr. Sketch scented marker." Katie paused and picked it up to examine it. "I guess we'll have to stop here."  
  
"We could always put the marker in Jacque's place so we could learn our other sets." Levi suggested.  
  
Katie looked around the room. "I suppose so. I don't want you guys to suffer because Jacque was mysteriously transfigured into a marker." Setting the marker down in Jacque's spot, she went back up to the front of the room to grab her yellow notepad with the drills.  
  
Soon she was setting everyone, even transfigured Jacque, and the rest of the guard learned their last few sets before the end.  
  
"Time to go!" Marie announced as the clock read 5:30.  
  
"All right, I will see you guys on Wednesday!" Katie announced as she picked up the marker that was Jackie. "And um, I'll just leave Jacque here. Where is her locker?"  
  
Megan spoke up. "It's over here. I'll put her in there." Walking towards Katie, she took the Mr. Sketch marker out of hand and walked over to Jacque's clarinet locker and shoved her in the gaps between the bars. Satisfied that she put her friend in her locker and could still reach her for their next practice, Megan gathered her stuff and walked out of the band room.  
  
Lindsay watched Megan walk out the door and shook her head. She never thought this would come true. It was just a joke she had made up! How could this have happen? What were they going to do now without Jacque? Sure, she caused problems in the guard and Katie was probably going to kick her off (or tell her off) so I guess Jacque being transfigured into a marker was good karma after all. But now they'd have to march with a hole. At least it was only one person, and not everyone!  
  
Michaele walked towards her friend and they wordlessly walked out of the band room. Walking to the spot they usually go to wait for their parents, they set their stuff down and sat on the cement.  
  
"This is too weird." Lindsay said.  
  
Michaele nodded her head in agreement as she reached into her purse to check if there were any messages on her cell phone.  
  
"I mean, who would had thought that a white-spotted owl, who represented the owl from Harry Potter and 'Labyrinth', would come and turn someone into a marker! I don't know how this could happen…" She picked up her cell phone herself and checked it. "I didn't even think magic existed in this world."  
  
Michaele nodded her head again. "Maybe it was a figure of our imagination."  
  
"Then it's a figure of the whole guard's imagination."  
  
"Okay… well…" She paused as she thought of a logical answer. "Maybe Harry Potter does exist!"  
  
Lindsay shook her head. "I doubt it."  
  
"True… their owls can't do magic. They just carry the letters." Michaele was at lost for a logic explanation. And she usually had one for everything.  
  
"Maybe…" She started as she slipped on her sunglasses. "Maybe… the government is behind it!"  
  
Michaele started laughing.  
  
"What?! It could happen."  
  
"I know, I know." She sobered up. "Maybe it is the government. They are pretty mysterious, stupid, and money hungry. Not to mention they can't run a freaking country." She giggled and then stopped. "Oh wait, I shouldn't say that because of the Espionage Act of 1917. I could be sued for $100,000 or thrown in jail for saying things against the government."  
  
"Riiiggghhttt…"  
  
Just then two silver cars drove into the school's parking lot with each of the girls' respective parents. They got up, gathered their things, walked to their cars, and said good-bye. 


	2. Bye-Bye Levi

The next day at school, Lindsay, Michaele, Marie and Becca all sat in the hallway in the auditorium as they sat there in silence. No one was talking, not even Lindsay and Michaele. What happened yesterday was too freaky. The thing that was on all of their minds was 'who's next?'…  
  
The silence was finally broken when Lindsay let out a loud sneeze. The other three girls in the hallway looked over at her and she shrugged as she found a Kleenex.  
  
"Sorry, I'm sick." Lindsay replied.  
  
With this break in the silence, Marie found it an appropriate time to speak. "Uh, practice is in the gym tomorrow. You all know that, right?"  
  
The girls nodded.  
  
"And Katie said she's bringing in something that will scare away any owls."  
  
The girls nodded again.  
  
What was that thing, they did not know. They did not speak again until the bell rang and they all left the hallway to go in back through the band room to go to their next class. Michaele and Lindsay walked together as the others went their own way.  
  
"Who do you think is going to go next?" Lindsay asked as she slipped on her sunglasses.  
  
"I think it's annoying people first. I mean, Jacque did go first." Michaele said as she tried to shield her eyes from the bright sun.  
  
"Hmm, could be… So then who would it be next?"  
  
They both looked at each other and answered at the same time. "Levi."  
  
Lindsay looked around and made sure any guard members weren't around. "Do you think it's possible?"  
  
Michaele pondered the thought as they got closer to their classes. "Well… he is annoying. He thinks he's great and he sucks on rifle, though he gets to do rifle for the show and throw a quad when everyone knows it should be you up there. Heck, even me!" Michaele coughed. "I really think it's him. I just wonder what he's going to turn into."  
  
"Something gay…" They both laughed.  
  
They came up to the empty bay area and said their good-byes as they separated to their respected classes. Well, Michaele did have to pause and drool at her crush for a little bit before moving on, but she made it to accelerated chemistry before the bell rang.  
  
Throughout the day, the thoughts of the guard members and the ideas of Lindsay and Michaele stayed with them the whole day. After school when everyone was hanging out in the band room, no one spoke, except the oblivious band members. However, Michaele did talk with her friend Rachel who long ago switched out of band and Michaele tried so hard not to tell her what happened. When she felt the bridge about to break, Rachel's mom came to get her and she left with her good-byes to Michaele and her twin.  
  
'Whew… that was close…' Michaele thought. No one could know of this. Not even Michaele's sister.  
  
The next day was the same outcome. Until practice began at three o'clock in the old gym.  
  
Lindsay, Michaele, Helanna and Stephanie all dragged their belongings and flag bags towards the old gym for their two-and-a-half hour-long practice. Walking in, Katie was there, set up with her stereo and… paper pigeons posted around the gym.  
  
"That's supposed to keep the owls away?!" Lindsay explained. "We had to get a fake owl in our tree to scare the pigeons away!"  
  
Michaele laughed loudly as Helanna and Stephanie nervously giggled.  
  
"This is going to be quiet an eventful practice today." Michaele said between her laughs.  
  
As promised, the practice was eventful… well eventful that people couldn't get to their sets on the gym floor so the size of the floor had to be reduced for the guard. It was probably because the newbies all march instead of jazz walk.  
  
"Okay guys, take a break!" Katie announced as the guard huffed-and-puffed around the court.  
  
Everyone gave out their sighs of happiness and went to find their water bottles to take a nice big drink of that hydrating-stuff. Sitting on the floor, Michaele, Lindsay, Helanna, Stephanie, and Megan all sat together as they drank their water. Rachelle causally came over and sat next to Michaele and the two began to talk.  
  
"So, are you having fun as the dancing man?" Michaele asked Rachelle as she took a drink of her water.  
  
Rachelle laughed her famous laugh. "YEAH! It's so much fun! Look, I even wrote it on my hand." She stuck out her hand. It indeed said, "I'm the dancing man" up by her wrist.  
  
"That's great!" She responded to her giddy freshman friend. "I'm glad you're enjoying this. Next year, you'll be twirling a flag, right?"  
  
"If I don't hit myself on the head, yeah!"  
  
The girls all laughed.  
  
A loud klank came from the gym floor.  
  
"What was that?" Stephanie asked.  
  
"Psst, its just Levi trying to do his tosses." Lindsay laughed.  
  
"I'm glad it's not the owl…" Megan said.  
  
All of a sudden, Lindsay popped up out of her spot and pointed to the top of the gym. "THE OWL! THE OWL!"  
  
Levi screamed and dropped his rifle once more.  
  
She took down her hand to her side and began to laugh loudly. "Levi is such a wuss!" She exclaimed to Michaele.  
  
"What a baby. Those are just badminton birdies stuck up there." Michaele laughed.  
  
Rachelle added her two cents. "I got one stuck up there!" She laughed at herself as the other girls laughed at her.  
  
"I got one stuck in the rafters at my junior high in the seventh grade." Megan said.  
  
"Man, my school was so cheap, I've never played badminton before." Lindsay said with a pout.  
  
"Okay break is over, set one!" Katie announced. Groaning, everyone set their water bottles down, grabbed their equipment and prepared to do another run-through of the show.  
  
Walking to their sets, Michaele talked with her two 'corner' mates and looked back at Marie banging her rifle on the ground to get something off of it. Laughing, she turned around and went to look at Katie, but Katie was frozen as she taped another paper pigeon to the folded up bleachers. Looking around, the white-spotted owl flew in through the open doors. Levi screamed and ducked. The owl noticed his movement and went straight towards him.  
  
"NOOO!" Levi began to groucho away from his spot as the owl chased him around the gym.  
  
It was quite a sight to see Levi grouchoing, not running, around the gym floor as a white-spotted owl chased him. Lindsay and Michaele were laughing. Marie had a look of puzzlement on her face, Becca was tossing her rifle, Chris was laughing, Stephanie and Helanna were hugging each other crying, Megan was huddle into a ball, rocking back and forth, Caitlin hid behind Megan, and Katie had put a paper pigeon in front of her in hopes of keeping the owl away.  
  
Finally, the owl swooped in and actually nipped Levi's ear. Levi screamed again as the owl flew around the gym once more and out the open door. Everyone stopped and looked at Levi as he waited for the worst. All of a sudden, he began to let out a blood-curling scream.  
  
"OWWW!!!!!" He scratched at his arms, flapped around, and went around in a circle while screaming.  
  
Michaele and Lindsay laughed harder.  
  
Then, he began to dance. It wasn't the Marcerna… it was… the running man!  
  
"THE RUNNING MAN?!" Katie screamed as she threw her paper pigeon aside. "The only other guy on my guard is being turned into a writing utensil and doing the running man?!" She began to get teary-eyed.  
  
Levi still screamed and flapped his arms like he was trying to fly or put on a fire as he did the running man. As he continued to do this, he made his way over to his rifle and began to do toss and toss after toss and then BOOM! Smoke appeared and whirlwind around Levi and sucked down to the ground. Where Levi once stood, was a pink crayola crayon. The guard screamed as Lindsay and Michaele continued to laugh.  
  
After Levi was transfigured into a crayon, the whole gym was silent. Suddenly the door burst open and a dog came running inside, being chased by a man. Becca began to laugh as her dog came over to the corner of the gym floor that her and Marie occupied. Petting her dog as Katie tried to decide what she wanted to do with the rest of the practice, the dog went to run and visit Chris, but spotted the pink crayon. With a lick of his chomps, he swooped down and ate the pink crayon.  
  
"OH MY GOD! MY DOG JUST ATE LEVI!" Becca exclaimed while trying not to laugh.  
  
Marie laughed. She laughed so hard it looked like she was going to pass out or something. "That's what he gets for sinking to that level!" She laughed again as her close friends Caitlin and Chris slightly laughed along with her for support.  
  
Lindsay and Michaele laughed along too. They were online the night before discussing that something might happen to the Levi crayon. They were right. They laughed and laughed as Stephanie, Helanna, and Megan looked at them like they were crazy. Marie laughed harder as she saw her fellow guard mates laughing along with her.  
  
Becca's dad came running in to stop the dog, but it was too late. He had fully chewed and swallowed Levi.  
  
"Oh great…" her dad sighed. "Now we have to wait to see if he digests it or not."  
  
The guard laughed harder. Katie let out a loud sob.  
  
"WHY ME?! WHY MY GUARD?!" She got down on her knees and cried. If only she knew that this was not even the climax to our story. No friends, tis only the beginning.  
  
Katie finally excused everyone home early, unable to get out of the shock that she lost another guard member to the mysterious owl and the member being transfigured into a different kind of writing utensil. She announced that on Monday they would either try to adjust the holes or just live with them.  
  
Gathering up their stuff, Caitlin, Chris, and Rachelle helped Marie get Levi's flag bag, which looked like many unfortunate green stuffed animals were killed for it to be made, and the rest of his belongings so she could give them to his parents. Sure, she hated him but she liked his parents. After all, Mr. Buck and Mrs. Buck were one of the coolest band parents.  
  
Michaele and Lindsay walked together to the parking lot by the band room to call and wait for their parents. Still, they could speak no logic explanation for what happened. Let alone the rest of the guard. This was going to be one long and strange guard season.  
  
"I still think it has something to do with 'Labyrinth'." Lindsay stated.  
  
"Maybe… or Harry Potter." Michaele said as she sat on the cement.  
  
"Maybe…" they said at the same time.  
  
Only time would tell what was going on and who was to go next.  
  
  
  
*Thanks to everyone who reviewed! (Hee hee, yes of course we take someone being turned into a marker well! That's the power of fiction) I hope you liked this next chapter. And by the way, the names of the chapters will all be the next victim, unless I decided it's not an appropriate chapter name. (There will be about nine, ten, maybe even eleven chapters) Make sure you review! Lindsay, I need more ideas… *throws another log into the fire* I'm running low. And Helanna, I keep on spelling your name different… does anyone know how to spell it? Steph? Lindsay? Anybody?  
  
*By the way, Amanda… (I don't mean to sound prude or anything and Lindsay, you know I love ya!!) but I wrote the story. Yep, that's right. Me. LittleLily. Michaele. Thank you for the review! But I wrote the story. I know Lindsay has helped me with some ideas for the story, but it is all written by me. That kinda hurt my feelings, even though Lindsay should get applause for some of her crazy ideas, but I've written every word you see on your screen. *sniff* Thank you. 


	3. Hidding the Truth (and Megan)

Thursday came by for the guard members and exited quickly. No one wanted it to, but it did. Friday brought on the anxiety that the guard members have never felt before. Not even when Katie yelled at them because they needed to learn their sets, and quick. No, this was much worse.  
  
The only two people who were the closest to being calm and collective were none other than Michaele and Lindsay. They went through the day as if nothing was happening. Michaele was the one at the lunch table that she shared with Caitlin, Chris, and Rachelle that was calm. Besides for Kyrie because she didn't know what was going on. She was just a flute player, not a guard member.  
  
"So, what are you guys doing in guard?" Kyrie asked as she took a bite of a french fry.  
  
'Uh's and 'um's and 'you know…'s and anything else that sounded like the four guard members were avoiding conversation about winterguard were muttered at the same time. Kyrie looked at them.  
  
"Is it that bad?"  
  
They looked at each other.  
  
"JacqueandLevigotturnedintoamarkerandacrayon." Rachelle said. Caitlin and Chris shoved fries into her mouth.  
  
"Huh? What about Jacque and Levi?" She asked the three who weren't choking on fries.  
  
"Uhhh, Jacque and Levi…" Chris started.  
  
"Jacque and Levi got… uh…" Michaele tried to continue.  
  
"Jacque and Levi got kicked off!" Caitlin said in a rush.  
  
"Really?" Kyrie asked in surprise. "How come they weren't at band practice the last few days?"  
  
"Because they're home sick!" Michaele exclaimed a little to loudly.  
  
"And they've been gone too much, so Katie thought it'd be better if we moved on without them!" Chris said.  
  
The three looked at each other and Kyrie. "Yeah."  
  
"Okay…" Kyrie nodded her head as she took a drink of her water.  
  
The rest of the lunch period, guard was not mention among the four. They ate their fries, pizza, and granola bar ("I'm trying to eat healthier!" Michaele had stated) as they talked and joked about things like they usually did. And you can't forget the classic teasing of the people in the table next to them.  
  
"TJ! Your zipper is down!" Chris said. As old as it was, the four girls started busted out laughing. TJ gave them a scowling look, like always. Before he use to check, but now it was old.  
  
The bell rang at 11:35, announcing the end of lunch. The five got up, said good-bye, and walked towards the direction that was the easiest to get to class. Michaele met up with her friends Adriana, Beverly, and Shauna and the four walked to math (for Michaele and Adriana) and 3D Design (for Beverly and Shauna). They split apart and said their good-byes and walked towards their classes.  
  
They reached their math room and stepped inside to begin another boring day of math. Michaele wished she had taken French so she could hang out with Lindsay and her twin, but she took the evil German class instead. Two years, wasted. She couldn't even remember her basics and she took it freshman and sophomore year! Nicolle (her twin) and everyone else Michaele knew took French, except Gina and her Japanese, remembered it all.  
  
The class finally ended and then it was on to AP History for Michaele, then to English after the bell for sixth-hour rang at 1:35pm. Michaele walked to the computer lab to make a power point presentation for her research project on… France. Walking into the lab, she saw Nathan (her crush) sitting at a Compaq computer. Michaele started to drool and wanted so much to sit next to him, but he wasn't part of her class. The slacker had a free hour. Walking to the other row of Compaqs to join her friend Jennifer, they sat down and started to surf the internet and do their power point presentations, with the occasional talking and Michaele looking over at Nathan.  
  
Mrs. Aguilera announced to the class that it was almost time to go, so to shut down the computers and pack up. As Michaele and Jennifer did so, Jennifer spoke.  
  
"So, how's color guard going?"  
  
"Uhhh, you mean winterguard?" Michaele asked.  
  
"Yeah, that." Jennifer threw her research packet into her backpack.  
  
"It's going fine! Just great! Uhh…"  
  
"What about the annoying freshman you told me about?"  
  
Michaele took a drink of her water bottle as her mouth went parch from the thought. "Uhhh, she got kicked off."  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Yeah… too bad she sucked! Heh…" She nervously laughed.  
  
"Anyone else get kicked off?"  
  
"Levi… but that's because he's sick! Can't deal with an absent guard member during a crucial time! And so is Jacque. So, they're not at school. Really sick, it's pretty bad."  
  
The bell rang, announcing the end of the day and that Michaele had twenty-five minutes to get ready for Friday night guard practice. Rising from her seat, Jennifer and Michaele said good-bye and Michaele went to run out the door. Only to run into Nathan first.  
  
"Oh my god, I'm so sorry!" Michaele sputtered.  
  
"It's okay, Michaele." Nathan said with his gorgeous smile. "What's the hurry?"  
  
'He said my name! It's the second time this year!' Michaele thought to herself before she came back to reality to notice he asked her a question and they had exited the computer lab. "Oh, I have guard practice at three and I have to get down there because I forgot my leotard and I have to be in full uniform tonight to practice, so I have to wait for my mom and that'll delay me getting ready."  
  
"You're walking the wrong way to the band room."  
  
"I have to get my books first."  
  
Nathan mouthed an 'oh'. "So, how's guard?"  
  
Was that the question of the day or what?  
  
"MICHAELE!" Lindsay's voice interrupted.  
  
"Lindsay!" Michaele squeaked. "Nathan, you know Lindsay right?"  
  
"Yeah, we have History together."  
  
"Great! Well, we're in guard together." She looked at Lindsay. "He asked how guard is going."  
  
Lindsay's smile dropped, but came back up again. "Yeah, it's going great. Uh…"  
  
"Jacque and Levi got kicked off because they're sick during a crucial part of our show." Michaele said quickly.  
  
"Uh-huh." Nathan said. "I didn't know Levi was doing guard again."  
  
"Well, he sure thought he was!" Michaele laughed, but stopped. "And now he's not. What a shame."  
  
Nathan nodded. "When do you have a competition?"  
  
"Uh, March 16th at Coronado…" Lindsay said.  
  
"If we have any guard members left by then…" Michaele muttered.  
  
"What was that?" Nathan asked.  
  
"Uhhhh, I said that it sucks we have to go to Coronado, but we can show them again that our guard is still awesome! I mean, we were the only division three guard this marching season to get all the captions and they only got one this season! So, yeah."  
  
"Oh, okay. Well, tell me what time you're performing and I'll try and come." Michaele and Lindsay nodded. "I have to go to Driver's Ed, see you two later!" With that, Nathan walked off.  
  
Lindsay and Michaele walked to the locker bay to change their books to be ready for Monday and to get their homework and walked back to the band room. When they got in there, Michaele's mom had picked up Nicolle and dropped off Michaele's leotard. Dropping their backpacks and taking their bags with their uniforms, they went into the drama bathroom to go get ready. But when they came in, they found Stephanie, Helanna and Megan looking paranoid.  
  
"What's wrong?" Lindsay asked.  
  
"Someone is singing in the girls' bathroom." Stephanie said.  
  
Michaele laughed. "Uh-huh."  
  
A loud tenor voice erupted into song.  
  
"WHAT THE JOHN HAY?!"  
  
Megan had the look of terror. "You don't think they're associated with the owl… do you?"  
  
"No, I don't think so." Helanna said.  
  
"Wait a second…" The voice sang again. "I think I know who that is!" Michaele exclaimed as the four girls looked at her. "It's Mr. Johnson."  
  
Stephanie, Helanna, and Megan screamed and ran out the dressing room. Lindsay and Michaele laughed. The tenor voice hit a high note and CRASH!  
  
"Did he break the toilet?!" Lindsay asked while laughing.  
  
"Uhhh…." Michaele laughed harder.  
  
"Help…" Mr. Johnson said in a small yelp.  
  
They laughed and walked out of the dressing room, only to peek their heads into the green room.  
  
"Mr. J got stuck again." Michaele said in between her giggles.  
  
The whole rehearsing cast of "Guys and Dolls" began to laugh loudly as Michaele and Lindsay laughed all the way back to the guard room door. Opening it up, they screamed. Inside the guard room, looking out of place, was Toby from the movie 'Labyrith'. On his arm was the Goblin King himself… as the owl. Lindsay looked from the owl, to Toby and then to Michaele. Michaele looked from Lindsay, Toby and to the owl. They both screamed and slammed the door.  
  
"Ow." Toby said from the other side of the door. Michaele and Lindsay looked at each other and opened the door up again.  
  
"OW?! Is that all you have to say for yourself? YOU TOOK MY LINE, YOU BASTARD! Only I can sit in the guard room and when people open the door, only I can say 'ow' even though they hit my backpack!" Michaele practically had steam coming out of her ears.  
  
"Uh, you don't want to talk to him like that." Lindsay replied as she looked at Toby and the owl, but still tapped Michaele's shoulder.  
  
"What? Why not? Who is this guy?"  
  
"That's Toby and the owl is the Goblin King."  
  
"From…?"  
  
"Uh, 'Labyrinth'. Duh."  
  
"Uh-huh…" She looked at Toby and the owl. "I'm sorry guys, but you're in the middle of our story, so I'm going to ask you to leave now." Michaele slammed the guard room door shut.  
  
"Michaele, we need to go through there." Lindsay said while snickering.  
  
"Oh, right." She opened the door again to find Toby and the owl gone. "Huh, that's weird."  
  
"Heh, yeah." They looked at each other.  
  
"Maybe we shouldn't tell anyone about this."  
  
"Yeah, I agree."  
  
Lindsay and Michaele opened the other door that lead to the band room and walked in as if nothing had happened. All the human guard members, the band members who were waiting for their ride, and Katie looked at the two as they entered the room. Slowly getting up, Katie advanced over to the two girls.  
  
"Is everything all right?"  
  
"Why wouldn't it be?" Lindsay asked.  
  
"We heard you scream… you didn't hurt yourself did you? Or…" Katie came in closer to the two and lowered her voice. "Or saw the owl."  
  
"You have no idea." She whispered.  
  
Michaele snorted.  
  
"Did you just snort?!"  
  
"Hee hee, sorry." Michaele covered her blushing face.  
  
"So, everything is all right?" Katie asked.  
  
"Yes." Lindsay and Michaele answered.  
  
"Okay, good. Go get your belongings and head over to the gym."  
  
The two girls nodded as Katie departed and went to tell the rest of the guard that was not a writing utensil (yet) to get their stuff and head over to the gym also.  
  
Michaele and Lindsay walked over the guard room again, but stopped. They kicked the door first to see if anyone said 'ow' or not. No one had, so they opened the door and proceeded to get their flag bags. After grabbing their bags and the rest of their belongings, they headed over to the gym for a long practice. Thanks to everyone's stupidity and the loss of two members to the mysterious owl, they now had to try and re-set the show.  
  
As 6:45 rolled along, Katie announced the dinner break. Lindsay and Michaele threw their flags over by their flag bags and walked out of the hot gym and into the cool air. Standing outside to wait for Caitlin and Marie, since they were their ride to Subway, they saw Megan standing outside waiting for Stephanie.  
  
"Hey Megan, what's up?" Michaele asked as she walked over to the freshman girl that was actually taller than her.  
  
"Nothing much." Megan tucked back a piece of her thick curly hair.  
  
"How is the flag work coming along?"  
  
"Pretty good."  
  
Awkward silence...  
  
"Okay kids, lets go!" Marie said as she kicked the gym door open to step outside with Caitlin and Rachelle in tow.  
  
"Yay! Thanks soccer mom!" Michaele skipped over to Marie and Caitlin as Lindsay followed.  
  
A piercing screaming came from behind them.  
  
Lindsay and Michaele turned around and gasped. Pointing their fingers towards the sky, they saw what they dreaded the most.  
  
"THE OWL! THE OWL!" Lindsay said.  
  
"OH MY GOD!" Caitlin ducked.  
  
Marie and Rachelle followed suit and ducked with Caitlin behind a trashcan. Michaele and Lindsay stood and gawked as the owl came down. Megan was still screaming.  
  
All of a sudden, the rest of the guard came running out of the gym. Katie started to cry again and talk to herself why it was always her guard. Chris, Stephanie, Becca, and Helanna stood there and watched the owl from the lobby of the gym as it's large white wings with an eratic pattern of black dots were spread at it's full length, circling above Megan like a vulture. Megan knew she was going to go next.  
  
With a loud scream from Megan, the owl swooped down and began after her. Megan began to run, but was not fast enough because her swim practice the week made her so tired that her legs couldn't carry her. She fell into the grass and bumped her head on the pole of the old marquee that sat outside the old gym. Taking this as an easy quest, he came down, sat on her and...  
  
"Pooped?! What the hell?!" Lindsay remarked.  
  
All of a sudden, Megan woke up and looked down at the owl dropping on her shoulder and the owl that had now taken it's place to watch the show on top of the marquee. Shuttering, she began to claw at her skin like the other two.  
  
"GET IT OFF! IT BURNS!" She began jumping around as best she could. Then... she broke out with that good ole classic dance, the charleston.  
  
"OH MY GOD!" Chris screamed.  
  
Megan tried to jump up and down to get whatever was "burning" her as she did the charleston. The next thing that came from Megan's mouth besides for 'oww! ahhh! burning!' was...  
  
"Do do do do dooo do do, do do do do dooo do..." just like the the Nokia ring tone, Charleston. Lindsay and Michaele couldn't help but laugh.  
  
Megan's charleston became faster and faster and her singing because faster and faster and then she started to scream and sing and dance and jump all at the same time... KABOOM! A large cloud of smoke appeared and withered down to the ground. At that moment, the owl left after the show of another guard member being turned into another marker. Katie cried as she walked towards where Megan once stood.  
  
"Oh my god..." She choked on her sobs as she bent to pick up what was once the living breathing human form of Megan. She was now... a green highlighter. "WHAT HAVE I DONE TO DESRIVE THIS! TELL ME!" She fell to her knees and the Megan marker went flying out of her hands and into the trash can Rachelle, Caitlin and Marie all hid behind.  
  
The three jumped up and went to grab the transfigured highlighter that was Megan. Bickering broke out between the three on who would get the marker out of the trash can as a bee flew by.  
  
What a scene it was to see three girls bickering over who'd get the Megan highlighter out of the trash can, two girls who stood on the cement between the trash can and the small grassy area where Katie cried, and the rest of the guard members cowering in fear in the lobby of the old gym that held the head of a dead ram.  
  
"It was green..." Lindsay said.  
  
Michaele laughed. "What was green?"  
  
"The owl poop."  
  
They both laughed as Katie cried again.  
  
  
  
*Okay everyone! That was chapter three. Now, I have decided that if you want anymore chapters (because this story is taking up homework and sleep time) I want three (or more) reviews from people I don't know! I might post chapter four without reviews, but I want input okay? I don't want to be wasting valuable time! I waste enough of that four days a week on guard and drumline. 


	4. Competition Time

The weekend soon passed with groans and complaints about homework and going out to have some sort of fun if there was time. The week soon greeted the rest of the guard as they had practice after practice with the fear of the owl coming in to their practice and changing another guard member-okay, three more guard members because there are three practices a week-into a writing utensil before the first competition. So far, it proved false. Katie was beyond thrilled with being able to hold practice without a guard member disappearing and having to spend the next practice fixing holes in the show. The rest of the guard was thrilled as well… but scared. Sure they had bought themselves more time, but the time would soon come when they would be markers.  
  
"NO! What was that?" Katie yelled as the guard finished a run-through of the show as their Friday practice came to an end.  
  
"Um, that was a practice." Caitlin said.  
  
"I'm aware of that. That's how you're going to perform tomorrow?"  
  
Everyone looked at each other with silence. They knew they were in big trouble. "Tomorrow I don't want to see drops. Especially on flags. I will come out there and beat you myself with the flag that you dropped."  
  
The four flags all flinched. Three out of four-Michaele, Lindsay, and Helanna-knew they weren't going to drop, but they weren't so sure about Stephanie. Ever since she tripped and hurt her ankle on the flag Jacque had left out, all she did was complain. Especially with spring break coming up that next week and no practice, she might as well get lazy. Not to mention she was going to have her tonsils taken out. She'd be a mime complainer now. Thank bob she wasn't as bad as Jackie though. No one was as bad as Jacque. Everyone was actually happy she was a marker and stuck in her clarinet locker.  
  
Not to mention the guard-Marie in particular-was happy that Levi was now a digested pink crayon that gave Becca's dog such problems that he had to go the vet for medicine . They weren't too happy about losing Megan to the trash can, but accidents happen. Lets just say Marie, Rachelle nor Caitlin will be playing softball anytime soon with their ability to catch.  
  
"Okay, tomorrow I want to see energy into this show. Go home and go to sleep! I'll see you here at 7am!" The guard scurried away as Katie remembered one more thought. "NO JEANS!"  
  
Lindsay rolled her eyes. "I'm going to wear jeans tomorrow, are you?"  
  
Michaele looked up at her friend as she threw her flag into her new spiffy flag bag her mom just finished for her the other night. "After we perform, yeah. I am not going to walk around Scottsdale Fashion Square in flower pajama pants!"  
  
"Hot guys…"  
  
"That's my reasoning right there!"  
  
The girls laughed as they walked out of the gym and towards the band room to wait for their rides.  
  
  
  
The next morning…  
  
Michaele yawned as she collected herself and her belongings out of her mom's car in the parking lot of Washington High. Looking around, she saw a slew of cars and the guard all standing around talking.  
  
"MICAHELE!" Lindsay hopped over to her friend.  
  
"Hi Lindsay!" Michaele tried to greet Lindsay with the same enthusiasm, but it was seven in the morning. Who was cheery at seven in the morning?  
  
"Okay, do I have everyone?" Katie asked as she looked around the parking lot.  
  
"I'm here!" Rachelle announced.  
  
"Thanks for notifying me."  
  
"No problem!" She giggled and ran away.  
  
Lindsay and Michaele looked at each other. There was no way they were going to survive this day. With exhaustion and annoying contacts in their eyes, they headed towards Becca's mom's car and got inside since they weren't taking a school van to the competition. Everyone was upset that they couldn't take a van, but it'd be better that way since they all didn't have to get along if they didn't want to.  
  
"Look! I brought Funk Monk!" Lindsay exclaimed as she took out a little monkey from her gym bag.  
  
"FUNK MONK!" Michaele exclaimed.  
  
"Spank it! Spank it!"  
  
She laughed and obliged to her friend's request. Lindsay smiled with glee as she thrusted the monkey towards the gap between the front seat and shouted at Becca. "Spank it! Spank my monkey!" Becca looked back at her weird before giving in to please the ever-hyper Lindsay. Becca's mom sat there in the driver's seat with a look of puzzlement on her face.  
  
They soon pulled up at a stoplight and waited for the light to change. Michaele, Becca, and Lindsay were all chatting. Suddenly, Lindsay turned back in her seat and sat Funk Monk on the back and noticed that Katie was behind them.  
  
"It's Katie!" All the girls waved at Katie. She waved back.  
  
"Lets make Funk Monk dance!" Lindsay said as Michaele laughed. So Lindsay began to make Funk Monk dance. Katie and her beanie baby Pooh bear that sat on her dash board was then picked up and got in on the act and a "dance off" occurred as they waited for the long light to turn green. It did and they were off again to their competition.  
  
An hour later the guard found themselves unloading their flag bags and gym bags in the parking lot of Coronado HS, the home of their first competition.  
  
"I wish Chris was here…" Marie said as Michaele walked towards her and Rachelle with Rebecca and Lindsay in tow.  
  
"Don't worry, our performance will be fine. It's going to be okay." Rachelle said. Michaele nodded and hoped for the best. Chris had left on Thursday night to go to California for some cheer thing, leaving the remaining girls to perform the show themselves. It was a good thing the owl hadn't shown up lately or they would have been less people performing on their first competition.  
  
"Okay kids! We're going to go check in and I don't want anyone leaving my sight, is that understood?" Katie yelled.  
  
They all nodded and followed their instructor to the table where they were to check in. After they were all stamped and ready to go inside the gym to begin to wait until their first performance of their uncompleted show.  
  
"Soloist, you need to be getting ready…" Katie went on as everyone settled down in the stands.  
  
"I'm going sleepy." Michaele yawned as she set her flag bag and gym bag down on the floor between the bleachers. Taking out her headphones, she slipped them on and tried to make herself comfortable without ruining her "crazy hair". That didn't work very well because she fell off the bleacher in a crazy drop. "Scratch that idea."  
  
Lindsay and Stephanie laughed at her.  
  
"Can you help me with my hair?" Stephanie asked.  
  
"I will." Lindsay said.  
  
"I'm no good at braiding." Michaele said as she attempted to lie down once more.  
  
"I'll help." Rachelle said.  
  
The girls began to braid Stephanie's hair and Michaele tried to sleep. Too bad Helanna and her stupid friends were there making noise. Not to mention that Irish guy. Who's friend was he?  
  
"Wake-up! Marie is on for her solo!" Lindsay shook her awake.  
  
Michaele sat up and watched her captain perform her solo. It was pretty good. Then Becca came on and did her solo. After her performance Katie announced it was time to start getting make-up on, so Michaele and Lindsay began to put on their make-up. As they did, Caitlin came and sat next to them.  
  
"Hi."  
  
Michaele looked over at Caitlin like she had just said, "I'M THE KING OF THE WORLD!" and stood up on top of the bleachers and banged her chest with her fist. Why was Caitlin actually talking to Michaele? She thought that she was annoyed with her or something. I mean, sitting at lunch with someone and being in guard with that same person can get a little… annoying.  
  
"Uh, hi Caitlin. What can I do for you?"  
  
"I was wondering if I could borrow some blush."  
  
"Sure." Michaele handed over her blush and it's brush to Caitlin.  
  
"Thanks." And with that she got up and went back to her seat a row behind her on the right and began to put on the blush.  
  
"What was that?" Lindsay asked. "I thought you said that you thought that she was annoyed with you or something."  
  
"That's what I thought too." Michaele shrugged and went to apply her purple eye shadow in the dramatic and stage-like way that Katie had wanted it done.  
  
Soon Caitlin had come back with the blush and Marie and Becca had come back into the stands to get ready for their show. Michaele had soon finished her make-up, as did Lindsay, with the occasional touch-ups due to Katie's request.  
  
"WASHINGTON! Get your equipment, lets go warm-up!" Katie announced as another Coronado duet finished.  
  
Everyone gathered their flags, rifles, sabers, and plastic saxophone and went outside to warm-up in the bitter wind until they could get a chance to utilize the warm-up gym.  
  
Michaele and Lindsay were practicing their solo together as Katie sprayed everyone with glitter hairspray and others practiced their moves on the cement block they occupied. A soundly wind came rushing through the guard that caused their gray silks to smack them in their faces. Helanna yelled as she tried to find her way out of her flag (since she was so small) and Stephanie laughed. Her own flag began to flutter around her face and was soon stuck around her face. Stephanie screamed and attempted to get the flag off her face, but only with the consequence of getting a smear of red lipstick all over her sliver/gray silk.  
  
"Ah man…" Stephanie muttered as she pushed the flag and the end of the pole on which it was taped to towards the ground. Helanna laughed.  
  
All of a sudden, that wind began to become louder and stronger. Screams began to emerge from the Washington guard as it whipped the flags in their faces and the rifles that were being tossed in the air came down and smacked toes and heads on their way back from the windy sky. Glitter hairspray began to fly away from where Katie stood as she attempted to put the glitter into Rachelle's hair. A loud sudden scream came from the grass area where Caitlin and Marie stood. The guard looked over to the two screaming girls and saw what they were screaming about. The owl was coming down from the sky with the large gust of wind following it.  
  
"HOLY MOTHER OF CHEESE!" Helanna screamed as she went to take shelter in a gap between two corners of a building.  
  
Katie began to hyperventilate. "NOT NOW!"  
  
Marie scream and ran as it came down towards her and Caitlin. Poor Caitlin didn't even get a chance to run as it swooped down on her and attacked her glittery red hair. She began to scream and wave her arms about. Soon, she stopped and looked in a daze. The owl backed off and screeched as he watched her with interest as he hovered above her with the air cascading around her.  
  
Caitlin finally let out a blood-curling scream as the owl circled her. She waved her hands wildly with some colorful choices of words escaping from her mouth. She jumped up and down in her circle and then as her choice of speech stopped, she began to…  
  
Sing! Caitlin was singing! But what was it?  
  
"What is she doing?!" Lindsay yelled.  
  
"I don't know!" Michaele answered back as they fled closer to watch Caitlin and what she was doing.  
  
Caitlin began to sing and dance… louder and louder she sang and the more and more she danced. She began to sing audibly…  
  
"Come on baby, let's do the twist! (ohh bop bop) Come on bbbbaabbbyyyy, let's do the twist! Come on a little girl, it goes like this!" As she sang, she twisted over to her right with her left leg bent slightly up and then towards the left with the right leg mimicking the same as her left. The dance and singing became faster and faster and she soon sounded like a chipmunk! Faster and faster she went, screaming, singing, twisting, and moving her hands about her.  
  
A sudden cloud of dust swirled around her like a tornado and SWISH! It expanded and collapsed around Caitlin. Swirling down to the ground, they found…  
  
"A PENCIL! Right before my competition, she gets turned into a pencil?!" Katie screamed as she rushed over to pick up the transfigured utensil that was once Caitlin. "Why me…" She looked in a daze and fell to the ground. "WHY ME?!" She looked up heaven-ward and screamed. She collapsed to the ground in a fit of tears as other guards looked at the Washington Winterguard like they were psycho.  
  
The owl flew off with satisfaction as the guard all huddled around Katie to try and console her. They knew they were in trouble now. But how to fix it within twenty minutes of a performance? What where they going to do?  
  
"Don't worry Katie, I know what to do out there without Caitlin and Chris." Rachelle tried reassuringly. This only made Katie cry harder.  
  
Katie's mom came over and took her daughter and tried to comfort her. It didn't help. "I think we better get over to the warm-up area." The guard agreed as they packed up their stuff and moved towards the warm-up gym.  
  
Everyone was silent as they moved their bodies, equipment, and backdrops to the gym.  
  
"Why don't we go get inspected first for the props?" Lindsay suggested. Katie's replay was a nod as they walked towards the inspection area first. After the complaints of the mothers running the inspection area, they taped the edges of the toy box and the latter before moving to the warm-up gym.  
  
Setting up in the gym, they found Corona del Sol with their huge guard finish warming up. Canyon del Oro and Washington ended up having to share the gym because of how behind the competition was. It's a good thing that they were both so small. CDO had six and Washington had seven competing that day.  
  
Just as Katie had finally recollected herself, she set herself in front of the guard to clap out the show. They clapped it out and Helanna, Lindsay, and Michaele all got the work. But poor Stephanie was behind a little. They broke off into sections after Katie decided they were doing poorly and Michaele counted for them as she watched the other three. It was okay, but they could be better. Soon enough, it was time for them to go perform their show.  
  
"I'm so nervous!" Stephanie said.  
  
"It's not that bad." Lindsay stated.  
  
"I don't know if we're going to do so well. I mean, Caitlin just got turned into a marker! That's bad karma if you ask me. I don't know if Rachelle is up to doing this by herself." Helanna stated.  
  
"Relax guys, it'll be okay. Just go out there and perform the way we would if there were eleven of us, fifty of us, or just five of us. It'll be fine. I promise." Michaele tried to reassure.  
  
They all nodded as they got together with the rest of the guard and headed towards the gym to perform for a crowd for the first time. Walking into the hallway that headed into the gym, they waited with equipment and baited breath.  
  
A sudden small hoot came from the ceiling of the Coronado hallway. Stephanie looked up and gasped. "Helanna..." She tugged on her shirt.  
  
"Not now, we're about to go on." Helanna said.  
  
"Helanna, the owl. I think I just saw it."  
  
"That's not funny."  
  
Just then, the guard was announced as the next guard. The backdrops and the guard began to walk out towards the floor just as Stephanie saw the owl approaching her. She slowly walked behind the rest of the guard, but they kept on trying to get her to go out onto the floor. She began to shake with fear as the owl swooped down from its perch and sat on her head just as she was about to go out onto the floor. She dropped her backdrop and went screaming out of the door and onto the side of the floor, flapping her arms around her. The audience's attention went to her as the guard unnoticeably set up their props. All getting into their sets, Stephanie began to scream and claw at herself. Soon, she began to do a dance. A crazy dance that owned a song…  
  
"I don't want to be a chicken, I don't want to be a duck, so kiss my butt..." She sang as she moved her arms about and clapped. Katie noticed her movement and started to scream.  
  
"NO! NOT THE CHICKEN DANCE! NOT NOW!!!" She cried.  
  
Stephanie's chicken dance became faster and faster as Stephanie became confused and kept on running into the wall and beating herself over the head with her flag. Faster and faster and faster and then BAM! The flag dropped from her grip as she staggered away from the wall. Yellow feathers began to fall above her in a cascade as Stephanie screamed. Katie cried as the whole audience gasped with shock and the guard finally saw what was happening.  
  
Before they could stop it, the last yellow feather floated towards the floor and dissolved into thin air. Where Stephanie once stood was a purple grape scented Harry Potter marker. Katie erupted into tears again.  
  
"OH MY GOD!" Mike, one of the prop helpers, screamed. "What do you want us to do?!"  
  
"GO! The show must go on!!!" She sobbed.  
  
Mike got attention of the guard and told them to perform. The music announcer guy stood there with the microphone near his open mouth. Feedback echoed into the audience as they groaned and covered their ears.  
  
"Uh, judges… are you ready?" The announcer squeaked. They nodded. "Washington Winterguard, are you ready?" They meekly set in their stances.  
  
"You may now take the floor in competition." He set down the microphone and muttered to himself 'the things I see these days!' with a confused look on his face.  
  
Katie still cried as she sat by the entrance door with the marker clutched in her hand. The prop helpers all stood in the back watching with puzzlement. What was going on with the Washington Winterguard?  
  
  
  
*DUH-DUH-DUHHHH! Cliffhanger. Sorry it took me so long to write this. I planned to finish it over Spring Break, which was… four weeks ago but I didn't like where the chapter was going, so I deleted it and started over again. Then there's this little thing called homework and guard. Yep, can't write a guard story without being in guard. And competitions. Yep… Well, I hope you liked this chapter! I want to see four or five more reviews before I post the next chapter. Thanks to Kanoi, Hestia, and MissKrisBlu1988 for reviewing. There was an anonymous review, but they were mean so I deleted it. From now on, rude people who are too chicken to give me their name can't review. Ha ha. And no, WHS are not cheaters because we're not the Washington HS Marching Band. We're the Purple Pride Marching Band, so you don't even know who we are so you can't call us a cheater. Ha ha, cheater. 


	5. Owls, Cookie Sheets, and Markers! (oh my...

A/N: Without further introduction (and I mean further) I present to you, chapter five!!  
  
  
  
After the most embarrassing performance the guard could have, they went home after their awards and went to enjoy a week off for their Spring Break. Lindsay and Michaele were actually anxious to go to guard during that week they had off, but it was probably better that they didn't have practice since everyone was so worn out and scared of guard now anyway.  
  
We join our guard members the Monday after Spring Break, all in their jazz pants and practice shirts and ready for another practice. Lindsay and Michaele were out on the gym floor practicing their solo as Helanna was faced towards a wall practicing her tosses. Marie and Becca were stretching as Rachelle ran around the gym like the hyperactive freshman she was. Chris was back from his trip to California and was practicing rifle work in the corner. Katie sat with a pencil in hand and her yellow notepad in front of her, trying to reset her show for her three flags, three rifles, and one girl who was just kind of like a prop master in the whole show. Getting frustrated with the decreasing size of her guard and not being able to think of new sets, Katie called for the guard to get into their sets.  
  
"All right, we're going to do this set by set and we're going to re-set everyone to fix holes, is that understood?" The guard nodded at Katie's request. Set by set they moved and re-set as they fixed their holes.  
  
"How about we re-set the show encase someone else disappears?" Lindsay suggested.  
  
"Do you think we're going to loose more people?" Katie asked with puzzlement.  
  
"Duh, they only took two on Saturday." Marie responded. Katie threw her pencil at her.  
  
"I have a sneaky suspicion someone is going to go by Wednesday." Michaele said.  
  
"Who?" Marie asked.  
  
Michaele tried not to smirk. "You."  
  
"WHAT?! Why me?"  
  
She shrugged at Marie's outburst. Chris began to laugh.  
  
"Michaele and I have picked out a distinct pattern on how the people are disappearing." Lindsay spoke up.  
  
"Right. First it was Jacque-" Michaele started.  
  
"Who was very annoying."  
  
"Then Levi-"  
  
"Who was annoying."  
  
"Then Caitlin-"  
  
"Who was getting annoyed with everyone."  
  
Michaele nodded. "Then Stephanie-"  
  
"Who was getting annoying." Lindsay finished again.  
  
"Okay, so why am I going next?" Marie asked.  
  
Becca began to jump up and down with her hand raised in the air. "OH OH! PICK ME!"  
  
"Yes Becca?" Lindsay asked.  
  
"She's going to go next because she's annoying! I mean, she may be the captain, but boy is she sure about herself!"  
  
That was enough to send Chris laughing so hard he was rolling on the floor. Marie huffed and looked over at Chris with an annoyed look. This made him laugh harder. Katie began to shutter with fear that she was going to loose another rifle.  
  
"Okay, so if you're so sure I'm going to disappear, when are you two going to disappear?" Marie asked.  
  
Lindsay and Michaele looked at each other, shrugged, and turned back towards Marie.  
  
"I don't know since I'm not writing this story." Lindsay said. She looked over at Michaele, who shrugged in response.  
  
A scowl stretched across Marie's face. "I am not going to be turned into a marker! I WILL NOT! YOU'LL SEE!" She stormed out of the gym and Katie ran after her. The rest of the guard was left in silence in the gym. Well, beside for Chris's loud laughter.  
  
******  
  
Wednesday  
  
******  
  
"Is Marie STILL mad at me?" Michaele asked Monique as Mr. DeBusk stopped the choir from singing five minutes before the class ended.  
  
"Um, wouldn't you be mad if someone threatened to turn you into a marker?" Monique responded rhetorically.  
  
"I did NOT threaten her! I could, but I won't because I'm nice!" Zack and Josh just happened to be walking by the girls at that moment and began laughing. Michaele turned around so fast, they yelped at the quickness and her look. "SHUT-UP!" They stiffened and walked back to the tenor section. She evilly laughed.  
  
"Look, I'm not on guard so I don't know exactly what is going on. If you ask me, this marker thing is a little weird."  
  
"You don't know half of it." She sighed. The bell rang and Michaele walked out of class to meet up with her friend Adriana so they could walk to their lockers before eating lunch.  
  
"What's wrong?" Adriana asked as Michaele walked with her silently towards their eating areas. Usually Michaele was talking about guard, but she wasn't now.  
  
"Would you think I was threatening you if I told you that you'd turn into a marker?" Michaele asked.  
  
Adriana stopped and looked at her. She sighed.  
  
"Forget I asked… it's too long of a story to tell the reasoning behind it. I'll see ya later." Michaele walked over to her table that she shared with Chris, Caitlin, Rachelle, and Kyrie and sat down.  
  
Chris walked over to the table and sat down at his seat. "Is Marie still mad at you?"  
  
"Is she still mad at you?"  
  
They both nodded as Caitlin, Kyrie, and Rachelle joined the two at their table. Everyone talked about random things and laughed at random things as they ate their fatting lunch and went on their dreary ways to the rest of their classes of the day. Soon the final bell rang at 2:35pm and Michaele bolted out of her English class to her locker and met up with Lindsay after they both exchanged their books.  
  
Lindsay and Michaele exchanged their hello's and went on their way to the band room, talking about their day and saying random things like they always do. Soon they went to change once again into their jazz pants and sleeveless shirts and walked back into the band room to get ready for the day of practice. As they sat in around in the band room waiting to move on into the gym, Marie came busting through the room covered head to toe in…  
  
"Cookie sheets?" Lindsay squeaked.  
  
"It will deflect the owl's flapping wind. And maybe it has that sonic thing, so this cookie sheets will deflect it!" Marie said with pride.  
  
"Um, bats have the sonic thing." Michaele said.  
  
"Oh…" She stopped and scratched her chin as the metal sheets banged together with her movement. "I knew that."  
  
"Of course you did." She stifled a laugh and muttered something about her flag bag and walked the other direction, which left Lindsay with Marie.  
  
Suddenly, Marie began to cry. "Do you really think I'm going to turn into a marker?!" She asked Lindsay.  
  
Once again, Lindsay could only shrug. "We'll all be markers one day, but only God will be able to tell when."  
  
"I thought Michaele was writing the story."  
  
"Yeah, that too."  
  
Silence enveloped the two girls for a few moments before Michaele came out of the flag room with her and Lindsay's flag bags and Katie emerged from Mrs. Britton's office. Band students of all sections began to come in and out and brought their noise as the guard waited for the rest of their members to have their practice. Soon everyone had arrived and off the guard went to the gym for their practice.  
  
The clang of Marie echoed as the girls (and one boy) made their way to the gym with the usual stare of the students that still loitered the campus after the final bell had rang. But this time, more students were staring because of Marie and her cookie sheets. She finally noticed the stares and stopped.  
  
"What?!" She screamed. "Ever seen a person who is trying to protect themselves from becoming a marker with cookie sheets?!" They all looked around. This caused Marie to huff and walk faster, and clang louder, towards the gym. Lindsay, Michaele, and Becca started to laugh as they walked behind her. Marie turned around and gave them a dirty look, which stopped them.  
  
Katie finally came to open the door and the remaining members of the guard stepped inside for their practice. Fear hung in the air as everyone set down their stuff against the wall and folded up bleachers and took out their equipment. Lindsay, Michaele and Helanna all walked to one corner of the basketball court with their purple and gray silks to start spinning and warming up. Marie (with her cookie sheets), Becca and Chris all went to the other end to warm up on their rifles. Rachelle went and found a broom to wipe off the floor because she was afraid it was dirty. She had hygiene problems.  
  
"Okay, I want everyone to stretch, but silently." Katie announced as Becca dropped a quad.  
  
Michaele, Lindsay and Helanna all put their flags down as Chris, Marie (still with cookie sheets), and Becca set their rifles down. They all met towards the middle of the gym floor and began to stretch. Michaele and Lindsay were talking quietly, but a look from Katie stopped them. Marie stretched her arm back with a loud clank of her cookie sheets. Everyone looked at her and she sheepishly smiled. Rachelle joined the group, but not before running by Marie and clinking the cookie sheet on her leg with a glee laughter. Marie took a cookie sheet off and flung it at Rachelle and barely missed her head. Katie looked back with an evil "mom" look.  
  
A sudden sharp knock erupted from the gym doors behind them. Everyone froze in there stretching position. Katie looked around towards her guard with terror. Just as she was going to go open the door, it flew open. Everyone screamed.  
  
"WOAH! I just wanted to see who was in here." Coach Frankie said.  
  
"Oh my god. You scared us. We thought you were the owl." Katie said with a huge sigh of relief.  
  
"The owl? What? Is this some weird band thing?"  
  
"You have no idea."  
  
"Okay, well, I wanted to see if it was clear for a basketball player to come in and practice. I guess not. Have a nice practice." He went to close the door, but something came through it… unnoticed. Until Rachelle noticed a green spot on the floor.  
  
"Hey, what's that?"  
  
"OWL POOP!" Lindsay laughed as she put her foot behind her head.  
  
Katie froze and Marie screamed. "It's going to come for me!! It's in here!"  
  
The whole guard stood to their feet and looked around. Katie went over to her purse and took out a paper pigeon she still had left over. She began to wave it about as if it were her protector. Marie saw her actions and ran over, clanging.  
  
"Give me the pigeon! I'm going to be turned into a marker!!!" Katie started to run with the paper pigeon. Marie followed her, clanging loudly.  
  
"OH MY GOD!" Chris screamed at the top of his lungs as the large white owl swooped down from behind the basketball hoop, charging straight for…  
  
"HELP!" Becca screamed as the owl changed its course from Marie to Becca. She began to run away as it swooped down towards her.  
  
"HERE!" Marie ripped off one of her cookie sheets and threw it towards Becca. As if it was slow mo, it flew through the air and just as Becca went to catch it, the owl caught it between it's beak and chucked it across the room, hitting Michaele and knocking her out.  
  
"OH MY GOD! You hit Michaele! No one hits my bigger-me!!!" Helanna screamed. She picked up the cookie sheet that lay next to the fallen Michaele and began to chase after the owl. Lindsay laughed until she was on the floor rolling around. The owl squawked in mock horror and began to make a large flight of a circle around Becca.  
  
"Get it away, get it away!!" Becca screamed as she shielded her head. Helanna came full speed ahead as the owl began to hover around Becca. Just as she went to hit the owl, it moved and she smacked Becca on the head.  
  
Before she had time to realize what had happened, Becca's eyes had rolled back into their sockets and she fell flat on the floor. Helanna gasped as she held onto the cookie sheet. Chris and Marie began to laugh. Lindsay began to laugh harder. Katie and Rachelle became scared.  
  
"But I didn't-" she swung around to face Katie and Rachelle, but they jumped back with a yelp, scared of her and her cookie sheet.  
  
Too bad the distraction didn't last long, the owl came back with a deafening squeal. The conscious ones all screamed as he came swooping out of it's circle straight for…  
  
"WATCH OUT!" Chris screamed.  
  
With a cling of the cookie sheets, Marie ducked her head, but the owl was to swift for her. He began to discharge the green goo onto her cookie sheets. Lindsay began to laugh so hard she was pounding on the floor, gasping for air.  
  
Marie began to laugh as the owl stopped his fire and swooped back up to the rafters with a dissatisfied squawk. Just as she moved her arms to point at the bird in victory, he came down at a barreling speed and knocked straight into Marie. She began to scream.  
  
"OH MY GOD! I've been hit!" She began to scratch at her head and began to remove and throw the cookie sheets she fastened to herself. Everyone watched with giggles, silent, and unconsciousness as Marie began to do…  
  
"I'll teach you, teach, teach you. I'll teach the electric slidddeee…" Marie sang as she scratched, removed and began to 'boggie-oggie- oggie' to the left, then the right, then the back, and rocked forward and back.  
  
The owl circled above her with silence as he watched his prey start to spin and sing faster and faster and faster until she rocked back and forth so fast, she looked like a rocking chair on speed. Then, a gust of wind broke through all the doors, swirling around Marie with a loud crackle. The rest of the guard (minus Michaele and Becca who were on the floor, out cold) began to scream and shielded their heads as the wind came tumbling around Marie. It swirled and swirled until it got smaller and smaller, then POOF! It exploded and silence and all chaos ceased to exist.  
  
"Which flavor?" Lindsay asked as Chris walked over to where Marie once stood.  
  
"Dungeon Dirt." He responded.  
  
"Oh god…" Katie said.  
  
The owl screeched and flew out the open door and into the open sky. The promise of his return hung in the air as Chris picked up the Harry Potter themed marker from the gym floor ground.  
  
  
  
**  
  
All right, summer is here and winter guard is over… does that make any sense? Didn't think so! I will try my hardest to finish this story over the coming month. There might be about three, four, maybe five more chapters. Depending on how creative I feel. Hope everyone is having a fun summer! Oh yeah, marching band is starting up again!!!!!!!  
  
Oh, and see that little button down there? Yeah, the one about reviews? Press it and give me a review! You know, something positive so I know that you want me to write and you appreciate my craziness. Thanks! (if you do this, your band will win State… maybe…just review!) 


	6. Stugo and Becca

*Author's note*OH MY GOD! Can you believe it took me this long to get up chapter six?! And it's marching season, what does that tell you? I'm VERY sorry for the delay and the story will be done soon. (hopefully) Thanks for reading!  
  
  
  
  
  
After the weirdest (and newest...) shock of the season (and on a Wednesday, none the less) the Washington winterguard went on with the rest of their week as if nothing happened.  
  
"What happened to Marie?" Monique asked Michaele in third hour choir on Friday.  
  
"Oh, uh, she's having her appendix removed." Michaele responded as she twiddled her thumbs.  
  
Just then, Jalena butt in. "Oh really?! When is she going to be back?! I should make her a card!"  
  
"NO! I mean, that's okay. I'll send her your regards." She responded. "Uh, yeah. She started feeling sick after practice on Wednesday and it just drove her to the hospital last night! She'll be fine."  
  
"When is she going to be back?" Monique asked.  
  
"Well, I guess we better ask Mr. DeBusk if we can sing today! I feeling like singing, don't you?" Jalena and Monique gave her a look. "Right. I'll be in the studio if anyone needs me." And with that, she left.  
  
Soon the day was over and another practice came. Luckly, no one was transfigured into a writing untensil that day. So thankfully, everyone left that day in high spirits. Until Sunday afternoon, that is. Because the next day would be Monday and everyone's knees began to shake again. But Monday was another prosperous day and no one was a marker... yet.  
  
We join our guardies, Chris, Michaele, Rachelle and their flute buddy Kyrie at their lunch table on a cloudy Tuesday afternoon as they argue and discuss the hot topic of the season, who is going to be a marker next!  
  
"Nah, it's gonna be Helanna next. She only chucked a cookie sheet at the owl." Chris said as he stole one of Kyrie's french fries. (which was rewarded with a slap)  
  
"I disagree Christopher. It's Becca next." Rachelle said. "I mean, Lindsay and Michaele came up with a pattern. It's only logical." She ate the Dorito that was used as a pointer in her speech with a loud crunch.  
  
"I'm gonna agree with her. It does follow the pattern." Michaele nodded.  
  
"What are you guys talking about now?" Kyrie asked as she looked at her Cosmopolatin magazine.  
  
"Doesn't matter... what are you reading?" Chris asked.  
  
Kyrie giggled her evil giggle. "You might like this." She held up the page as Chris and Rachelle half laughed, half screamed with delight and Michaele rolled her eyes.  
  
"Let me see!" Chris grabbed the magazine away from Kyrie's hands.  
  
"Oh my goodness! Look at that!" Rachelle said.  
  
"AH! Little stick figures!" Chris laughed.  
  
"I know! Look at this! They rate the level of difficulty." Kyrie pointed out.  
  
"I can't believe you guys are excited about an article with stick figures and ratings and descriptions about different sex poses!" Michaele groaned.  
  
The other three gasped.  
  
"My-chaele! You said said 'sex'! WOW! We should get you something to celebrate that 'dirty word' for leaving your mouth!" Kyrie clapped with glee as Rachelle and Chris nodded in agreement. "What do you want?"  
  
"To be crowned Miss Teen USA." She laughed. "Ech no, I want M&M's!"  
  
Kyrie dug into her purse and produced a dollar. "Go knock yourself out, kid!"  
  
"YAY! CANDY!" Michaele took the dollar and just as she turned to leave the table, the three went:  
  
"F***ing b****!" And then laughed.  
  
"You'll never let that go, will you?" She muttered as she left the table and went to the vending machine.  
  
Soon as she came back, happily munching on her M&M's, but was stopped short with a scream.  
  
"What the?"  
  
The whole school was in a comotion with screams and fleeing as Michaele ran over to her table to find out what was going on.  
  
"The owl is here!" Chris shouted as Michaele came forward.  
  
"WHAT?! How? Why?"  
  
"I don't know, do I look like the owl's personal secretary to you?"  
  
"Nevermind that. Rachelle, go to Mrs. Aguilera's room and tell Becca to hide. If the owl chases you, send someone else and find somewhere else to hide. But make sure to stay with Becca!" Rachelle nodded and left the table. "Chris," Michaele turned to him as he nodded with attention. "Go to Ms. Fox's room and stay there with Lindsay. Don't leave until I call you." He nodded and left. "Kyrie, go find Helanna and stay with her."  
  
"What are you going to do?" Kyrie asked.  
  
"Hide in the bandroom, duh!" And with that Kyrie and Michaele went their seperate ways.  
  
The owl sqwaked loudly as it circled a bunch of Stugo kids as they huddled together and screamed in fear.  
  
"HELP US!" Matt Meese, student body president, screamed.  
  
"Sing, maybe that'll drive it away!" Danielle, junior class president, said.  
  
"That's not nice."  
  
"Oh, like I care Mr. Sky Masterson."  
  
Just as Michaele was about to turn a corner, the Stugo kids began to scream louder as the owl began to launch green poop at them. A tall girl with very long blonde hair began to yell.  
  
"My hair! My hair!" A large goop fell on her bangs, and with that she fainted.  
  
"Oh no, not the green poop!!" Michaele groaned as she saw the Stugo kids begin to stratch, hop, dance, scream, and sing. "OH NO!" Suddenly, a gush of wind came over them and silenced their screams and they all turned into various markers, pens, and pencils. "Oh my force, oh my force, oh my force..." she muttered to herself as she turned to run.  
  
But she didn't turn fast enough; the owl had seen her. With another sqwak and swoop of it's wings, the white owl began to chase the main character of our story.  
  
"AHHHH!!!!!!!!!!" Michaele screamed in her high soprano, 'I'm being killed' scream. She began to run faster as the reward of her speed, the band room door, came in sight.  
  
But the owl kept going and she kept running.  
  
She turned the corner and banged on the band room door as soon as it was in reach.  
  
"MRS. BRITTON! LET ME IN!"  
  
The owl sqwaked loudly as it came nearer to Michaele. Just as it was about to attack her pretty ponytail, Mrs. Britton opened the door and Michaele rushed in and slammed the door.  
  
CRASH!!!!!!  
  
"Uh, hi Mrs. Britton. How are you today?"  
  
"WHAT WAS THAT?!" She asked her student.  
  
"Didn't Katie tell you?"  
  
"No..."  
  
"Have a seat." Michaele and Mrs. Britton went into her office and Mrs. Britton got the story of her life.  
  
"So, that's why I'm here." Michaele finished.  
  
"And the others?" Mrs. Britton asked with the fear of another winterguard going down the tubes.  
  
"Hidden behind locked doors."  
  
"What about... the owl?" The both poked their heads out the office door to see many beak and claw prints impressed through the double, metal doors.  
  
"Must still be out there."  
  
"Or given up..." Michaele swallowed loudly.  
  
The intercom turned on in the band room with the pending scratch of an announcment.  
  
"Students and staff. The owl has been apperhended by the proper officals and is being driven back to Flagstaff. You are no longer in danger. Please return to your scheduled class."  
  
"AHHH MAN! I don't wan to go to AP History." Michaele kicked the floor.  
  
"Do you need me to do anything?" Mrs. Britton asked.  
  
"Call Katie and tell her about this. Maybe she's got another brilliant plan with paper peigons. Thanks for the shelther." And with that, Michaele opened the beat up doors and went to leave. "Oh, and you might want to call matience."  
  
~~~~ Friday ~~~~  
  
"Um, warm-up on your own." Katie announced as the guard members came into the gym. Earlier that week, the guard had a scare of the owl. Strangely enough, it had been during school hours. Luckily, no guard members were hurt but the Stugo members that had first lunch went. Which was okay because no one liked those stupid popular people anyway.  
  
"So, what do you think is going to happen today?" Rachelle asked. "I mean, Katie isn't talking. This is so weird. I kind of miss our arguments."  
  
"I dunno, Rachelle. But I have a feeling she might blow at any moment." Chris responded.  
  
Michaele, Lindsay, Helanna, and Becca all nodded as they streched their seperate body parts.  
  
Katie continued to stare at her hands as she sat on the floor by the stereo she had set up. She didn't even notice her guard was talking, she was so out of it. School, instructing, and the owl had finally taken a toll on her sleep patern and she was a zombie. Especially with a competiton the next day at *shutters* Gilbert. Five minutes later, the guard decided the streched enough and went to spin flags and rifles in a block formation that Chris ran. Katie didn't even notice they were up until they were done with 100 drop spins and speed spins on the right and left, craves, flutters, and tosses.  
  
"Oh, uh. Yeah... Run the show."  
  
The guard looked at each other as they dragged their self to their sets and got ready for the show. Performance after performance, the guard stopped themselves if they messed up or Katie did if she noticed something if she wasn't zoned out. Finally, a break came.  
  
"WATER." Michaele muttered as she ran to her water bottle that sat by the closed bleachers. She took the bottle into her hands, opened it and drained the whole thing without even breathing. Lindsay gave her a weird look as she took moderate sips from her water bottle. "What?" Lindsay shrugged.  
  
"Is the bathroom open?" Becca asked as she watched towards the lobby of the gym.  
  
"I think so." Chris answered since Katie wasn't paying attention.  
  
She left for the bathroom as the five remaining guard members talked, drank water, and streched a little.  
  
"Okay, lets get start the show again." Katie announced.  
  
The guard mumbled as they gathered their equipment to set for the show. As they did so, they heard a loud scream.  
  
"OH MY FORCE!" Michaele shouted.  
  
"You don't think?..." Lindsay asked as she looked at her friend from across the floor.  
  
"RUN!" Katie screamed as she took out a paper piegon from her bag and hid under it.  
  
Helanna, Chris, Michaele, Rachelle, and Lindsay ran to the lobby of the gym. What the found, was a terrible sight. The owl had came through the ventalition shaft and into the gym. It's victim was found screaming and running around in her sparkley blue shirt and jazz pants as she tried to get away from the owl.  
  
"What are we going to do?!" Helanna asked.  
  
"Uh..." Chris smashed his arm through the glass case that held the awards and took out an old football. "Hey you stupid owl!" He chucked the football at the owl.  
  
Unfourtantly for Chris, he was a cheerleader and not a football player, so the ball went out of balance and smashed into the gym doors.  
  
"Uh-oh." The owl sqwaked at Chris as Becca ran out of the gym and towards the quad.  
  
It sqwaked again as it notice it's prey had gotten away and flew through the open doors towards Becca.  
  
"Nice going, Chris!" Rachelle said as they all followed the owl out of the gym.  
  
"NOO! NOOO! I'm a good guard person! I SWEAR!" Becca screamed as the guard saw her stop in a patch of grass and try to cover herself from the hoovering owl.  
  
But that didn't stop the owl. It was too late by the time the guard had reached the cement seperating them from the grass. The owl had came down on Becca and began to snap at her long blonde hair as she screamed and swated her hands.  
  
"NOOO!" She screamed and screamed as she began jump and spin. The owl sqwaked loudly as she watched his prey jump and scratch some more.  
  
"Oh my god, what is she doing?" Chris asked in wonderment as Becca began a dance.  
  
"Is she doing?..." Rachelle started.  
  
"The worm?!" Lindsay shouted.  
  
"OH MY GOD!" Helanna said.  
  
Michaele just laughed as Becca got on the ground and started to do the worm as she screamed and scratched.  
  
Soon she began to wither and crawl, scratch and scream as a gust of dust and wind came out of nowhere and began to swirl around Becca. The rest of the guard shielded their eyes as they watched their last girl rifle stuck in a dirt devil. It collapsed around her with a loud POP! and Becca was transfigured into a...  
  
"Purple Sharpie?" Chris said as squinted to see the marker that laid in the middle of the grass.  
  
"Huh..."  
  
The guard stood there on the cement as Katie finally came out and her scream echoed from the front of the gym as the owl flew away. They looked at each other and then their eyes popped out of the heads as they jumped into the grass.  
  
"OWWW!"  
  
  
  
  
  
*Hot cement, gotta love it. Chapter seven coming soon! And maybe a short story about the WHS Purple Pride Marching Band being turned into markers, pens, and pencils by the infamous owl, COMING SOON!!!!!  
  
(oh, that little button down there on the left of your screen that says 'reveiw', click it. okay? good deal! you get a cookie! *runs away with the cookies*) 


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